The band left for Scotland on Wednesday, August 9th. We arrived in Memphis a
couple hours early for our departure time of 2:10 PM. I would like to thank the
folks at Continental for the first class treatment of all our members from the
time we arrived at the airport. It could not have gone any better. The only fly
in the ointment was Tristen Dean being listed as Tristen Bean. We had a good
laugh at that, as Tristen has several similarities to Mr. Bean on the BBC.

Our arrival in Scotland at 8:30 AM was almost on time, if only slightly late.
The airport was a complete zoo due to the Wednesday night implementation of
flight restrictions due to terrorist threats. Angus Cameron MacDougal of
Fairlanes tour buses was right there, however, to meet us as promised. We have
requested Angus again for next years trip. He was full of information and advice
for those that had not been to Scotland previously. He dropped us off safe and
sound at Stirling University later that morning.

The rooms were not ready yet, so we had a nice sit out on the back of the
building with some of the folks going into the Stewart building for a soda or
what have you. The rooms were squared away in short order and away we went to
set up camp. Several bands from around the world were already there practicing.

My friends from Florida, Black Thistle were on hand as well as a couple New
Zealand bands, and Canadian groups. All were busy practicing, and probably
wondering why the USA band was sitting around doing nothing. Well, we had been
doing two-a-days for the past week and a half in 100 degree weather. I had hoped
for some rain and cooler weather in Scotland. We did get beautiful weather. The
best in 50 years I heard, but no rain. We had to add a bit of moisture to the
dried out bagpipes and retune the drums after taking some tension off for the
trip.

All went well, and we found ourselves at The Green (The Saltmarket) in
Glasgow on Saturday morning, the 12th. The field was well set up as usual, with
activity abounding right from the start. We had a 10:45 start in MAP heat #3. We
were in ring #4 I believe. Setting up across the street under the trees, we were
ready for the day. The practice paid off, and we garnered second place in our
qualifier. Onto the finals at 4 PM. Up until we actually played, we were right
on top of our game. Several things did not go as planned in the final, so we
went home disappointed. We will return next year just as prepared and ready to
win.